Henry sees no hemisphere gap

New Zealand coach Graham Henry maintains there is no great divide between the hemispheres – despite the All Blacks’ romp to grand slam glory.

Tana Umaga’s men added a clean sweep of home nations scalps to a roll of honour which already included a 3-0 series whitewash of the Lions and a triumphant Tri-Nations campaign.

With Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland succumbing on successive weekends, New Zealand’s dominance would appear to have shifted the balance of power back towards the southern hemisphere.

But Henry insists those victories were hard-earned and pointed to the performance of Australia as evidence that the Tri-Nations heavyweights are not in the driving seat.

“We came over here to do a job and that was to develop players and also to try to win a grand slam. That was at the back of the players’ minds and we’d talked about it,” he said.

“We managed to win the grand slam. We played Welsh and Irish sides which had a number of senior players missing. We had a big game against England last weekend and we managed to hang in there and win.

“We faced a very competitive Scottish team on Saturday and won. I don’t think there is any big difference between the hemispheres – Australia have struggled on this tour and have lost a couple of games. They’re from the southern hemisphere.

“We’re trying to develop and that’s why we’ve brought all these players on tour. Hopefully we’ll get stronger.”

In truth, the divide exists between New Zealand and the rest of the world rather than between hemispheres.

Australia have struggled with defeats by France, England and Wales while South Africa also went down in Paris, leaving the All Blacks out in front as the dominant force on the world stage.

And worryingly for their rivals, not only have New Zealand coasted to the second grand slam in their history but they have also developed an international squad of remarkable depth in the process.

The aim of Henry and his coaching lieutenants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen is to have two quality alternatives, blooded at Test level, available for every position when they enter the next World Cup in two years’ time.

The evidence from this tour suggests they are well on the way to achieving that, but while Hansen is happy with the progress, he is keen to downplay the strength of New Zealand’s position.

“To do the grand slam with 35 players is a huge bonus. What we wanted to do was have faith in people to do a job and they’ve done that,” he said.

“We’ll all form an opinion on whether we’ve got two players for each position. I think as selectors we’re very happy with the performance of people on this tour.

“There are obviously one or two people still at home but you can be happy when you finish a Test match with the guys we had on the pitch against Scotland and still get the job done.

“There were some young men out there like Jason Eaton for example. He’s had a good tour and developed as a person. Andrew Hore is another developing player. They’ve both said they want to be All Blacks for a long time and we’re very happy about that.”